Of 13 doctors allotted for dist, Civil Hospital gets only one

The state government has allotted stations/postings to 255 doctors as part of the bonded government service across various public healthcare institutions of the state, post-completion of their PG courses. Of the 255 doctors, the district got 13 doctors but in the share of the overburdened Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, came only one.

Advertisement

The post of Medicine Specialist had fallen vacant after the lone specialist, Dr Amanpreet Kaur, was promoted as Health and Family Welfare Officer and now one medicine specialist will be posted here. This is the only specialist that will be posted in the city while the remaining will be posted in periphery areas.

A total of six medicine specialists have been appointed, of which one will be posted at the Ludhiana Civil Hospital, one at the Raikot sub-divisional hospital, one at the Samrala Sub-Divisional Hospital, one at the Sudhar Community Health Centre, one at the Jagraon Community Health Centre and one at the Khanna Community Health Centre.

The Sub-Divisional Hospital at Khanna and Community Health Centres at Maloud and Dehlon will get one surgeons each.

Sub-Divisional Hospitals at Raikot and Samrala will get an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist each. The Khanna Sub-Divisional Hospital will get a radiologist while an ophthalmologist has been appointed for the Raikot Sub-Divisional Hospital.

The post of forensic expert still remains vacant at the Civil Hospital as no appointment has been made and the hospital will continue working without the expert which, in turn, is giving a tough time to the hospital administration. Daily, 7-10 cases arrive for post-mortem examinations and at present, it is taking one day’s time to prepare the final report.

Dr Charankamal was posted at the hospital in 2021 and he was the lone forensic expert here. In August 2024, he was transferred to Kharar, following which the hospital was left without a forensic expert. Left with no other option, the forensic expert from Khanna is called here to conduct autopsies. Along with him, specialists from the Civil Hospital are also conducting the same.

A doctor from the Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, said of the 13 new appointments, the Civil Hospital has got only one doctor.

“The OPD of the hospital witnesses around 1,000-1,500 patients daily and it caters to the entire district. Patients from the entire district are referred here and it would have been allotted more doctors,” he said.

“In the backdrop of current specialist doctors’ shortage and tepid responses to walk-in interviews in the recent past, situations like this are the need of the hour, as the services provided by these young specialist doctors in the near future will eventually benefit the poor and the needy,” said Dr Akhil Sareen, president of the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA).

The current move coupled with another round of walk-in interviews for specialist doctors should potentially address the issue of specialist doctors’ shortage, thereby ensuring seamless specialist services across the state, he added.